Spinning machine and method



N. H. JENSEN ETAL SPINNING MACHINE AND METHOD ,7 She ets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 16, 1965 Mmh 12, 1968 N, H, JENSEN ETAL 3,372,567

SPINNING MACHINE AND METHOD Filed Sept 16, V1965 7 Sheets-Shed 2 25v a7 a6 44st H 42 F E INVENTOIR v I N/ELS s JENSEN LEONARD POMPA FORNEYS N. H. JENSEN ETAL SPINNING MACHINE AND METHOD March 12, 1968 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 16, 1965 IN l/EN TOR 7 ATTQRNEKS N/ELS s JENSEN LEONARD POM/=54 March 12, 1968 N. H. JENSEN ETAL 3,372,567

srmume MACHINE AND METHOD Filed Sept. 16, 1965 '7' Sheets-Sheet 4 F 4. -1.4- N/ELS s. JENSEN' LEONARD POMPA ATTORNEYS INVENTOR March 12, 1968 Filed Sept. 16, 1965 N. H. JENSEN ETAL SPINNING MACHINE AND METHOD '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENT OR N/ELS S JENSEN 'Q LEONARD POM/34 ORNEYS March 1 2, 1968 N. H. JENSEN ETAL 3,372,567

1 SPINNING MACHINE AND METHOD Filed Sept. 16, 1965 r 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENT OR N/ELS s JENSEN LEONARD POM/34 w/Z I March 12, 1968 N. H. JENSEN ETAL 3,372,567

- SPINNING MACHINE AND METHOD Filed Sept. 16, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 1:1 .19 "iFigau INVENTORS A/IELJ H gf/VJEN L N/he o MQA IT NEYS United States Patent 3,372,567 SIINNING MACHINE AND METHOD Niels H. Jensen, Glenmoore, and Leonard Pompa, Ardmore, Pa., assignors to Lukens Steel Company, Coatesville, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 374,567,

June 12, 1964. This application Sept. 16, 1965, Ser.

11 Claims. (CI. 72-80) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSURE A spinning machine for forming heads from heated steel plates where opposed rollers are carried by a yoke which is movable in an arcuate path on a member which, in turn, is movable both parallel and perpendicularly relative to the axis of rotation of the spinning machine, the rollers having parallel axes of rotation and being selectively offset from each other in the direction of their axes of rotation and/or normally thereto.

Cross reference to related application This application is a continuation-inpart application of application Ser. No. 374,567, filed June 12, 1964, now abandoned.

Summary, background, and objects of the invention This invention relates to a spinning machine of the type utilized for producing flanged and dished steel heads. More particularly, it relates to such a machine and method wherein the forming is accomplished by opposed rollers situated at the terminal portions of a yoke which can be moved vertically and radially with respect to the axis of rotation of the blank being subjected to forming and wherein the angular relationship between the yoke and the axis of rotation is selectably variable. The machine is capable of producing many variations of heads which cannot be practically produced by conventional machines and it is particularly adaptable for automation.

In conventional machines, a heated steel blank in a disc form is spun about a vertical axis and the forming of the blank into a dished head is accomplished by means of a pair of rollers, the roller on the underside being known as the anvil roller and the outer roller being a forming roller. The anvil roller generally conforms to the configuration desired and the forming roller is moved relative to the anvil roller against the blank in order to conform the blank to configuration of the anvil roller and thus produce the desired shape of the head.

Operators of spinning machines must possess considerable skill in order to operate same. It is not unusual in the production of large heads that such heads have to be heated several times before the head is finished because of interim cooling. Generally speaking, heads produced by conventional spinning methods vary from as little as 12 inches to over 20 feet in diameter and to over six inches in thickness. In addition to various ferrous metals, heads are commonly formed of clad steels, nickel, aluminum, Monel, Inconel, Naval brass, copper, and many other materials. Conventional spinning machines require a large variety of anvil rollers and former rollers for production of standard heads and heads to order.

A primary object of this invention is the introduction of a spinning machine which is adaptable to produce a great variety of types of heads without the necessity to interchange the former and anvil rollers and which improves both the speed and efliciency of the spinning operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a spinning machine wherein the rollers on each side of the blank may be oifset with respect to one another.

ice

Another object of the invention lies in provision of an apparatus wherein several sets of roller members may be employed on a single blank in order to balance the forces acting upon the blank while at the same time substantially increasing the capacity of the apparatus.

A yet further object of the invention is to provide a machine which is capable of turning out heads which will include both concave and convex areas and also irregular shapes such as an ellipsoid.

The invention is illustrated in preferred embodiments in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Brief description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a perspective View of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a detailed drawing in partial section showing the means for rotating the blank;

FIGURE 3 is an enlargement in perspective of the upper roller and supporting structure;

FIGURE 4 is a separate view of the slide mechanism which is included in FIGURE 3;

FIGURES 5 and 6 are enlarged side and front views of the rollers;

FIGURE 7 illustrates the upper and lower rollers offset from one another about a blank;

FIGURE 8 shows the rollers in a further offset position;

FIGURE 9 is a view partly broken away showing in side elevation the supporting yoke for the rollers together with the sector part and other supporting mechanisms;

FIGURE 10 is a sectional view taken on section lines X-X of FIGURE 9;

FIGURE 11 is a side elevational view of the apparatus wherein the range of movement of the yoke and supporting structure is shown in dotted lines;

FIGURES 12 through 15 are sectional views to illustrate various types of heads which can be produced by the apparatus of the invention without changing the rollers;

FIGURE 16 shows in side elevation the apparatus in accordance with the invention wherein two sets of rollers are employed to form the same blank;

FIGURE 17 is a fragmentary plan view of the lower portion of the supporting sectors for the apparatus disclosed in FIGURE 16; and

FIGURES 18 through 20 are enlarged front views of a modified roller arrangement.

Description 0] the preferred embodiments Referring now to FIGURES 1 and 2, it will be noted that an upper shaft 20 with an upper clamping member 21 is carried by an overhead crane member 22 which travels on a pair of parallel elevated runways 24.

As seen in FIGURE 2, the shaft 20 has a plurality of longitudinal grooves 25 which match similar corresponding projections in bevel gear 26 whereby when the bevel gear 26 rotates the shaft 20 is also rotated. The overhead crane member 22 carries a hydraulic cylinder 27. A piston member 30 is disposed on the top of the shaft 20 within the hydraulic cylinder 27. By the application of fluid pressure from a fluid inlet 31 the shaft 20 may be raised, whereas by the application of fluid pressure in the upper fluid inlet 32, the shaft 20 may be lowered and the upper clamping member 21 forced against the plate 34 to be formed. A bevel gear 35 which engages the bevel gear 26 is driven by a motor 36 through a gear box 37. Accordingly, the motor 36 causes the shaft 20 to turn through the gear box 37 and the bevel gears 35 and 26the latter meshing internally with the grooves 25.

The lower shaft 40 is turnably supported by a thrust bearing 41 and a further support bearing 42 which are rigidly connected to the framework constituting the foundation for the spinning machine designated generally 44.'An upper clamping member 45 is received on the upper end of the shaft and together with the clamping member 21 secures the plate 34 in its working position.

The yoke 46 has four arm members 50, 51, 52 and 53. The arms 50 and 51 are joined by a base portion 54 and a similar base portion (not shown) joins the arms 52 and 53. From an inspection of the drawings, it will be appreciated that the arms 50 and 52 are joined in the terminal portions as are the arms 51 and 53. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the yoke 46 is integral with its arms substantially coinciding with the edges of a pyramid whereby the resulting structure is both strong and substantially rigid.

As may be seen in FIGURE 3, the terminal portion 55 supports the upper roller 56 by means of a dog 57. A jig 60, carried in slot 61 in portion 55, serves to guide the dog 57 and consequently also guides the upper roller 56 within limits. The jig 60 fits within the slot 61 snugly with close tolerances so that in operation of the invention a firm connection exists between the jig 60 and the terminal portion 55. The jig 60 has a vertically disposed passageway 62 with a plurality of parallel ribs 64 which match indentations 65 in the dog 57. Accordingly, the dog 57 is permitted to move only upwardly and downwardly, as shown in FIGURE 3, within the jig 60the tolerances between the ribs 64 and the indentation 65 being sufficiently close that for all practical purposes relative horizontal movement is precluded. Between the indentations 65 are racks 66, said racks 66 being engaged by gears 67 and it being understood that the racks 66 are located on each side of the dog 57 with a gear 67 engaging said racks on each side of the dog. The gears 67 are carried by a pair of shafts 70 which are retained by bearings 71. The shafts 70 are also received in a gear box 72 whereby the shafts 70 are geared together to turn in opposite directions but at the same speeds. A motor 74 is provided to drive the shafts 70 through the gear box 72. Hence it will be appreciated that the dog 57 may be selectively raised or lowered by energizing the motor 74 to turn in one direction or another. The dog 57 may be moved in the direction indicated by arrow 75 or in opposite direction by motor 76 which turns a threaded shaft 77 which, in turn, is received in a threaded ear 80 extending from the jig 60. As will be noted from FIGURE 4, a further ear 80 extends from the opposite side of the jig 60 and it will be understood that a further shaft 77 and motor 76 are arranged on the opposite side of the portion 55 so that the jig 60 may be moved within the slot 61 without the introduction of a bias force when the motors 76 are energized. A cover 81, shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 3, is provided to cover the top of the dog 57 and cooperating apparatus including the gear box 72.

At the junction of arms 51 and 53, a lower roller 82 is carried which is opposed to the upper roller 56. The axes of the rollers 56 and 82 are generally parallel and, as previously noted, the roller 56 can be moved, within the plane of the axes, towards and away from the roller 82 and also in a transverse direction relative thereto. This permits the rollers to be somewhat biased in their opposition, as illustrated in FIGURE 7, to create an additional bending moment on the material 34 being formed.

As shown in FIGURE 8, the lower roller 82 is also adjustable within limits. Thus it will be noted that each bearing 84 for the axle 85 of the roller 82 is carried in an eccentric insert 86 which is held in place by a set screw 87. With such arrangement as shown in FIGURE 8, the roller 82 may be offset in a further transverse position from the roller 56 to produce a bending moment on the material 34 which is being formed.

The yoke 46, FIGURE 9, is carried in a sector member made up of a pair of arcuate members 90 which are maintained in a parallel position by a connecting member 91 and which transcribe approximately a 170 arc. Each member 90 has a groove 92 which grooves receive the tongue portions 94 of the yoke 46 as shown in section in FIGURE 10. The bottom of the groove 92 has a series of indentations to form a rack gear 95. Engaging the rack gear 95 is a spur gear 96 which is carried in the base portion 54. The gear 95 extends through the tongue portion 94 and is connected to be driven by a motor 97 whereby the yoke 46 may be moved along the arcuate members 90 in a manner as indicated in FIG- URE 11.

The arcuate members 90 may be moved vertically relative to the backing part 100. Thus it is to be seen that a lug 101 extending from the connecting member 91 is threaded and receives a threaded shaft 102 which has connected in its upper end a gear wheel 104 which engages a worm gear 105 interconnected to and driven by a motor 106.

The backing part 100 is movable horizontally by a motor 107 which turns shafts 110 through gearboxes 111, the shafts 110 being threaded to engage corresponding threaded portions within the backing part 100. Thus when the shafts 110 are turned the backing part 100 is moved backward or forward depending upon the direction that the motor 107 is turning.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the opposed rollers 56 and 82 may, within limits, be positioned both along horizontal and vertical coordinates, and in addition thereto the axes of the rollers 56 and 82 can be inclined to the horizontal as desired.

Because of the flexibility introduced by the apparatus in the invention, the same rollers may be employed to produce a variety of different shaped heads. For example, as shown in FIGURE 12, the machine can turn out a more or less bell-shaped head without the necessity of changing rollers. FIGURE 13 shows a head with a concave portion which can be produced by the invention. FIGURE 14 exemplifies the versatility of the apparatus by showing a head with circular corrugations which the mechanism can produce. FIGURE 15 shows irregular head with flanges added which falls within the capacity of the machine. Moreover, it is important to note that there is no necessity to change the rollers for the production of any of the above indicated shapes and in consequence there is no problem of removing the plate while new forming rollers are installed.

It is of course desirable that the plate be shaped without the necessity of reheating same if this is possible. For larger installations, it is thus frequently desirable to use opposed yokes as shown in FIGURE 16. As shown in such figure, the yoke 46 is identical to the yoke 46 previously described. However, the yoke 4611 has its arcuate members 90a separated a greater distance than arcuate members 90 of the yoke 46 and the connecting member 91a is wider than the connecting member 91. This permits the members 90 to be received inside the members 90a when the backing parts 100 and 100a are moved forward. This design has the additional advantage that the forming members exert a balanced force on the plate 34. Because the member 34 in the apparatus as shown in FIGURE 16 can essentially be formed at twice the speed as that shown, for example, in FIGURE 1, even relatively large heads can often be formed without reheating.

The motors 74, 76, 97, 106, and 107 are electrical motors of types well known in the art having sufficient power for their functions. These motors may be either controlled by an operator by hand Or they are controllable from a prearranged matrix whereby the plate 34 may be automatically formed. It will be understood that by coordinating the movement of the roller with the revolving movement of the plate, heads of noncircular cross section may be produced.

In operation, the plate 34 is brought from a furnace where it was raised to the desired forming temperature and by appropriate lifts is centered on the lower clamping member 45 and the upper clamping member 21 is then brought into clamping engagement with the plate 34. The motor 36 is then actuated to turn the upper clamping member 21, the lower clamping member 45 being turnable in response thereto, and the entire plate 34 is spun at the desired speed. The yoke 46 is then maneuvered into position as shown in FIGURE 1 and the upper roller 56 is brought into contact with the plate 34, the lower roller also being in contact with the lower portion of the plate. The upper roller 56 may be slightly displaced in bias with respect to the lower roller 82 as shown in FIGURE 7 while the yoke 46 together with the backing part 50 is moved away from the axis of rotation of the plate 34. At the same time force is exerted on the roller to incline the axes progressively from the horizontal as the rollers are drawn a greater distance from the axis of rotation of the plate 34. On the return run, that is, when the rollers 56 and 82 move towards the axis of rotation, it may be found necessary or desirable to adjust the bias between the pair of rollers.

The action of the rollers 56 and 82 not only forms the plate 34 into its head shape, but also tends to maintain a uniform thickness of the metal making up the head. When the head is in the desired shape, the yoke 46 is maneuvered away from the head, the clamping member 21 is raised and the overhead crane member 22 removes same from the area so that appropriate lifting members may be employed to carry the plate 34 from the lower clamping plate 56 to such place as it may be permitted to be cooled or treated further as desired.

FIGURES 18 through 20 show a modification of the anvil and forming rollers. In this modification two forming rollers 256 and 256a which are individually adjustable in the same way as roller 56 in FIGURE 3 are provided at the extremity of the upper yoke which has two arms 257 and 257a. The lower or anvil roller 282 is normally positioned intermediate the forming rollers on the under side of the workpiece 34, as shown in FIGURE 18. However, to accentuate the forming of heads, either one or both of the forming rollers can be shifted individually to the positions shown in FIGURES 19 and 20. The arrangement for raising and lowering the dogs and for moving same laterally of the yoke arm are essentially the same as the arrangement shown in FIGURE 3, it being understood that individual jigs and motors are provided for each forming roller and arm.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, for modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A spinning machine for producing flanged and dished heads and the like from circular plates, which comprises a pair of opposed holding means securing one of said plates, turning means revolving said plate about an axis extending perpendicularly from the central portion of said plate, a sector piece adjacent to said plate, said piece being selectively movable in directions perpendicular and parallel to said axis, said sector piece including an arcuate track, a yoke carried by said sector piece, said yoke engaging said arcuate track whereby said yoke is selectively movable in an arcuate path on said track, said yoke including arms extending on either side of said plate, and rollers carried by each of said arms, said rollers bearing on either side of said plate, said rollers being substantially concentrically disposed relative to said arcuate path.

2. A spinning machine in accordance with claim 1 wherein said arms substantially coincide with the vertical edges of a pyramid.

3. A spinning machine in accordance with claim 1 wherein a said roller of one side of said plate is ofiset with respect to an opposed roller on the opposite side of said plate.

4. In a spinning machine for producing flanged and dished heads and the like for metal plates, opposed forming rollers disposed on either side of a plate held by said machine, the axes of rotation of said rollers being substantially parallel, a first mechanism connected to said rollers adapted to move said rollers perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said plate, a second mechanism connected to said rollers adapted to move said rollers parallel to the axis of rotation of said plate, and a third mechanism, said third mechanism including a yoke carrying said rollers adapted simultaneously to change the angle between the axes of rotation of said rollers on one hand and the axis of rotation of said plate on the other.

5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 wherein said yoke includes supporting arms for said rollers which substantially coincide with the side edges of a pyramid.

6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 wherein a roller on one side of said plate is offset with respect to an opposed roller on the opposite side of said plate.

'7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 wherein a further mechanism connected to one of said rollers is adapted selectively to change the distance between said rollers.

8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 wherein another mechanism connected to one of said rollers is adapted selectively to move said one roller backward and forward along its axes of rotation whereby said one roller may be selectively opposed directly to the other roller or oifset therefrom.

9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 4 wherein an additional mechanism connected to one of said rollers is adapted selectively to move said one roller side to side with respect to its axes of rotation whereby said one roller may be selectively opposed directly to the other roller or offset therefrom.

10. A method of forming dished metal heads and the like which comprises the steps of making a circular plate, heating said plate, clamping said plate between rotatable members at its geometric center, pressing rollers against each side of said plate with the axes of rotation of said rollers being parallel and a plane containing said axes being at a bias to the axis of rotation of said plate, spinning said plate about said center, and forming said plate by moving said pair of rollers together in their biased position selectively vertically and horizontally while said plate is spinning.

11. A method in accordance with claim 10 wherein the angle between said axes and the axis of rotation of said plate is varied during the forming operation of said plate.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 15,247 7/1856 Minard 7285 291,620 1/1864 Nugent 72--84 601,566 3/1898 Huston 72-84 766,826 8/1904 Hjorth 72111 2,069,198 2/1937 Cushwa 72-81 2,308,432 1/ 1943 Johnson 72-81 3,055,414 9/1962 Boldrini 72111 RICHARD J. HERBST, Primary Examiner. 

